Easel



Aug. 12,1941. M. KOHN 2,252,571

EASEL Filed Juhe 23, 1939 Patented Au 12, 1941 UNITED fiTATES, PATENT.OFFICE EASEL' Milton Kohn, Chicago, 111.

Application June 23, 1939, Serial No. 286,786

(01. its-124.1)

15 Claims.

This invention relates to easels and more particularly to easels made offlexible sheet material for the purpose of supporting display cards orphotographs or the like.

One embodiment of the invention is particularly adapted for use as aplace card or for similar purposes. It is an object of the invention toprovide an easel or card of the character described which is normallycollapsed and may be opened or expanded to easel form and in whichautomatic locking means is provided for retaining the easel in selfsupporting condition.

A further object is to provide an easel of the character described whichmay be formed of ordinary cardboard or similar comparatively thin sheetmaterial; also, in which substantially the entire easel may, if desired,be formed of a single piece of sheet material, and in which all of thesmaller and more fragile portions thereof are enclosed within theprotecting sheets when the easel is collapsed.

An important object of the invention is the provision of a type of hingebetween the front of the easel and the supporting means which willprovide a substantial spring tension tending to collapse the easel, andwhich also tends to resiliently retain the locking means in place whenthe easel is expanded.

A further object is to provide an easel of the character described whichwill be of few parts,

cheap to manufacture, easy to assemble, and which will not easily getout of order in use; also wherein the easel isautoma'tically locked inopen position by a single manual operation.

Further objects will be apparent from the specification and the appendedclaims.

In the drawing:

Fig. lis a perspective front view of one embodiment of the invention.

' Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side view illustrating the easel in its normal collapsedcondition.

, "Fig. 4 is'an enlarged view of the upper end of the easel'andillustrates the novel hinge arrangement.

Fig. 5 is a view of the blank from which the main'portion of the easelmay be formed, a portion being broken away for convenience inillustration.

Fig. 6 is a rear perspective View of another embodiment of theinvention.

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the embodiment shown in Fig. .6 in itscollapsed form.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the'blank fonning the supporting portionof the embodiment shown in Figs. 6 and '7 with thehinge members attachedthereto.

' Referring to the drawing in detail, theembodiment illustrated in Figs.1 to 5, inclusive,

comprises two display panels I and 2 and an intermediate portion 3connecting the lower edge ofthe walls or panels I and 2. The panels Iand 2 and the intermediate portion 3 are preferably formed of asinglepiece of cardboard or other suitable resilient sheet material, and theblank may be scored, as shown by the dotted lines 4 and 5 in Fig. 5, toprovide hinge joints connecting the intermediate portions with thepanels and a hinge joint 5 preferably on the median line of theintermediate portion 3, as shown, so that the intermediate portion 3will normally tend to fold inwardly in the form of an accordion plaitwhen-the easel is collapsed as shown in Fig. 3. The intermediate portion3, therefore, provides two inwardly extending hinge members 6 and Iwhich are hinged at their outer ends to the panels I and 2 with theirinner edges hinged together as shown.

In the embodiment illustrated, the portion 1 adjacent the panel I of theeasel is sheared as shown in Fig. 5 to provide tongues 8 which formintegral extensions of the portion 6 and these tongues normally remainin substantially the same plane as the member 6 and merely formsemi-rigid inwardly extending continuations thereof. The tongues 8normally ext-end upwardly between the side Walls of the easel when it iscollapsed as shown in Fig. 3, and, when the walls I and 2 are expanded,the ends of the tongues will move downwardly along the inner surface ofthe front wall as the accordion plait expands until the ends of thetongues automatically engage in slots 9 in the front wall of the easel,as shown in Fig. 1, to thereby lock the easel in open position.

lower edge supported on the outwardly extending ends of the tongues 8.

The upper ends of the panels I and 2 are secured together by means of ahinge member [2.

This hinge may be in the form of a folded strip of adhesive tape or anysuitable material, preferably paper tape, which is adhesively secured tothe side walls in the manner shown in Fig. 4, with the upper or pivotaledge of the hinge somewhat below the upper edge of the walls I and 2. Inother words, the upper edges of the panels I and 2 extend somewhatbeyond the pivot point of the hinge so that these walls tend to resistthe opening of the easel and a resilient structure is thereby formedwhich normally tends to collapse the easel, and, when the easel ispulled open against this tension, the ends of the tongues 8 will movedownwardly along the inner surface of the panel I until theyautomatically snap into the slots 9 and the normal tension supplied bythe hinge will tend to hold the easel in the locked position shown.

The panel I of the easel may be provided with .a plurality of verticallyaligned transverse slots 9 so that the tongues 8 may be engaged in anyselected pair of slots to thereby provide supports for any desired sizeof card or photograph. It will, of course, be understood that either orboth of the panels may bear illustrations or printed matter for displaypurposes.

The embodiment illustrated in Figs. 6, 7, and 8 is very similar to thatpreviously described except that any suitable card l3 may be used forthe front of the easel and a strap-like supporting member M is providedadjacent its upper end with a hinge I5 which may be similar to the hingel2. The upper pivotal edge of this hinge I5 is positioned slightly belowthe upper end of the strap member M so that, when the strap and the cardA3 are secured together by the hinge, the supporting member tends tocollapse as shown in Fig. '7.

The lower end of the strap member M is secured to the card I3 by meansof a hinge member [6 which may be similar to the hinge member 15; thatis, it may be formed of a folded strip of adhesive tape having one sidesecured to the member l4 and the other side secured to the card Hi toprovide a suitable hinge It. This lower pivotal edge of the hinge It maybe positioned slightlyabove so that this hinge also tends to resilientlyresist opening of the easel.

The strap member rl l' may be transversely creased or scored orotherwise formed along lines corresponding to the dotted lines ll and E8to provide a collapsible accordion hinge portion H], as shown, wherebythis entire hinge section tends to collapse between the body portion 14and the card l3 when the easel is closed, as shown in Fig. '7. Theconstruction of the accordion hinge portion it in this embodiment issimilar to the intermediate collapsible portion 3 of the easelpreviously described except that in this structure any suitable card orpanel 13 may be used and the supporting portion or strap it may beattached thereto by means of the hinge members 15 and it.

The position of the pivotal point of the hinges l5, and H5 in therelationship shown at 20 in Fig. 7 causes the resilience of thesupporting member to tend at all times to collapse the easel and to holdit rigidly in position when opened, as shown in Fig. 6.

Thestrap portion Hi is sheared and slotted as shown, in Fig. 8 toprovide a locking tongue 2|. The tongue 2! forms an integral portion ofone side of the accordion hinge member l9 and automatically engages in aslot 23 in the strap Hi when the easel is opened, as shown in Fig. 6. Inthis embodiment the strap portion Hi, including the adhesive tape hingemembers l5 and 16 applied thereto, may be manufactured and sold as aseparate unit and may be attached to any suitable card such as the cardl3 by merely securing the free ends of the adhesive hinges l5 and I5thereto as shown in Fig. 6.

Modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention, and it is therefore desired that the invention be limitedonly by the prior art and the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described this invention, what is claimed and desired to besecured by Letters Patent is:

l. A collapsible easel comprising a strip of sheet material transverselyfolded to provide two oppositely disposed panels and an intermediatenormally collapsed accordion plait therebetween, said panels beingfurther secured together adjacent their opposite free ends whereby saidpanels cooperate to resiliently resist opening of said accordion plait,and means formed integral with one side of said plait and adaptedautomatically to engage in a slot in one of said panels when said easelis opened and to retain said easel open.

2. A collapsible easel comprising two oppositely disposed panels havingan accordion plait therebetween adjacent the lower ends, the upper endsof said panels being hingedly connected together with the pivot line ofthe hinge below the upper edges whereby said panels resiliently resistopening movement, and a plurality of inwardly extending elongatedtongues integral with one side of said accordion plait and extending inthe same plane therewith and automatically operative to releasablyengage in slots in the opposite panel to retain said easel open.

3. A collapsible easel comprising front and rear panels hinged togetheradjacent their upper edges, a separator portion hingedly connected toeach lower edge and having an intermediate reverse hinge whereby saidseparator portion may fold inwardly between said panels when said panelis collapsed, and an inward extension being cut out from and integralwith said separator portion and extending from adjacent the apex of saidreverse hinge and in the plane thereof and adapted automatically toengage in a slot in one of said panels when said easel is expanded tolock said panels in open position.

4. A collapsible easel comprising front and rear panels hinged togetheradjacent their upper edges, a separator portion hingedly connected toeach lower edge and having an intermediate reverse hinge whereby saidseparator portion may fold inwardly between said panels when said panelis collapsed, an inward extension from adjacent said reverse hinge andadapted automatically to engage in a slot in one of said panels whensaid easel is expanded to lock said panels in open position, saidextension extending through said slot sufficiently to form a support fora card, and a tongue adjacent the upper edge of the slotted panel toengage over the upper edge of said card.

5. In an article of manufacture a panel support comprising a strap-likemember having a body portion, means for hingedly securing the free endof said body portion snugly to a card with the hinge pivot slightlybelow the free edge of said portion whereby said edge resilientlyresists the movement of said support away from said card, the oppositeend of said strap-like member being scored and sheared to provide anaccordion plait when folded, means to hingedly secure the free end ofsaid plait to said card, one side of said plait having an inwardlyextending tongue integral therewith and adapted to cooperate with saidbody portion to retain said support in open position relative to saidcard.

6. In an article of manufacture a panel support comprising a strap-likemember having a body portion, means for hingedly securing the free endof said body portion snugly to a card with the hinge pivot slightlybelow the free edge of said portion whereby said edge resilientlyresists the movement of said support away from said card, the oppositeend of said strap-like member being scored and sheared to provide anaccordion plait when folded, means to hingedly secure the free end ofsaid plait to said card, one side of said plait having an inwardlyextending tongue integral therewith with its free end adaptedautomatically to engage in a slot in said body portion when said supportis moved to open position, and a shoulder on said tongue to preventclosing of said support.

'7. An article of manufacture comprising a strap-like member ofcardboard or the like, said member being scored adjacent one end toprovide an accordion plait when folded, said plait being formed toprovide an elongated tongue forming an inward extension of the outerside of said plait and adapted to engage in a slot in the body portionof said member when said plait is partially open, and means to hingedlysecure the free ends of said member respectively adjacent the top andbottom of a card.

8. An easel attachment for a display card comprising a strap-like memberformed of cardboard or the like having an adhesive tape-like flapsecured to the inner face of each end and forming a hinge flap adaptedto be adhesively attached to a card with the pivotal points of saidhinges positioned to cause said strap to resiliently resist movement ofsaid strap away from said card, said strap having an aperture and beingscored and formed adjacent one end to provide an accordion hinge betweenthe main body of said strap and said card, and a tongue member integralwith said strap cooperating between said accordion hinge and theaperture of said body portion to automatically lock said strap in cardsupporting position when said strap is pulled away from said card.

9. In an article of manufacture a panel support comprising an aperturedstrap-like member having a body portion, means for hingedly securing thefree end of said body portion snugly to a card, the opposite end of saidstrap-like member being scored and sheared to provide an accordion plaitwhen folded, means to hingedly secure the free end of said plait to saidcard, said plait having a locking tongue member attached thereto andadapted automatically to engage with the aperture in said body portionthereby to lock said body portion when said support is moved to openposition, and a shoulder on said tongue to prevent closing of saidsupport.

10. In an article of manufacture a panel support comprising a strap-likemember having a body portion, means for hingedly securing the free endof said body portion snugly to a card, the opposite end of saidstrap-like member being scored and sheared to provide an accordion plaitwhen folded, means to hingedly secure the free end of said plait to saidcard, one side of said plait having an inwardly extending tongueintegral therewith and adapted to cooperate with said body portion toretain said support in open position relative to said card.

11. A collapsible easel comprising a strip of sheet materialtransversely folded to provide two oppositely disposed panels and anintermediate normally collapsed accordion plait therebetween, and meansforming an extension of one side of said accordion plait and extendingin the same plane therewith and cooperating with the opposite panel toreleasably lock said easel in open position said last mentioned meansbeing cut out from and integral with said plait.

1-2. A collapsible easel comprising a strip of sheet materialtransversely folded to provide two oppositely disposed panels and anintermediate normally collapsed accordion plait therebetween, and meansformed integral with one side of said plait and adapted automatically toengage in a slot in one of said panels when said easel is opened and toretain said easel open.

13. A collapsible easel comprising two oppositely disposed panels havingan accordion plait therebetween adjacent the lower ends, the upper endsof said panels being hingedly connected together, and a plurality ofinwardly extending elongated tongues integral with one side of saidaccordion plait and extending in the same plane therewith andautomatically operative to releasably engage in slots in the oppositepanel to retain said easel open.

14. A collapsible easel comprising two oppositely disposed sheetmaterial members having an accordion plait member therebetween adjacentthe lower ends, the upper end of one of said members being hingedlyconnected with the other of said members at a point remote from thelower end thereof, and an inwardly extending cut-out tongue integralwith one side of said plait and extending in substantially the sameplane therewith and automatically operative to engage the oppositemember to retain said easel open.

15. A collapsible easel comprising two oppositely disposed sheetmaterial members, a separator portion hingedly connecting said membersadjacent the lower edges thereof and having an intermediate reversehinge whereby said separator portion may fold inwardly between saidmembers when said easel is collapsed, the upper end of one of saidmembers being hingedly connected with the other of said members at apoint remote from the lower edge thereof, and an inward extension beingcut out from and integral with said separator portion and extending fromadjacent the apex of said reverse hinge and in the plane thereof andadapted to engage in a slot in one of said members when said easel isexpanded to lock said easel in open position.

LEILTON KOHN.

